HKSAR Government committed to promoting e-commerce
23 - 11 - 2000

Participants of a prominent information technology (IT) forum of Mainland China were explained today (November 23) how the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (HKSARG) promotes the development and adoption of e-commerce in Hong Kong.

Representing the HKSARG, the Director of Information Technology Services, Mr Lau Kam-hung, delivered a speech in the Forum on China International Municipal Information Infrastructure in Beijing, Mainland China, today.

Mr Lau told the forum participants that, to make use of IT to help maintain Hong Kong's competitive edge and to drive its economic expansion, the HKSARG formulated in 1998 the "Digital 21" IT Strategy with the aim of making Hong Kong a leading digital city in the 21st century.

Facilitating the development of e-commerce and promoting its adoption in the Hong Kong community is one of the initiatives.

There are a number of factors advantageous to the development of e-commerce in Hong Kong including the availability of a comprehensive and secure information infrastructure.

"Hong Kong is one of the most open telecommunications markets in the world, and is one of the regions that has the best telecommunications infrastructure and services," said Mr Lau.

"With our policy to liberalise Hong Kong's telecommunications market, and that the 3G service will be available next year, there will be more business opportunities offered for Hong Kong.

"We will ensure that Hong Kong will be able to participate in the development of the next-generation Internet technologies, and we also have reviewed the administration and assignment of Internet domain names and Internet protocol addresses in Hong Kong.

"Such measures help encourage the development of innovative and attractive web sites in Hong Kong, especially those that will help develop Hong Kong as a gateway to the Mainland's e-commerce," said Mr Lau.

"All these factors are supportive to the development of e-commerce in Hong Kong," he added.

To address the concern of the public about the legal security of e-commerce, the HKSARG introduced a clear legal framework by enacting the Electronic Transactions Ordinance in January this year.

"The Ordinance gives electronic records and digital signatures the same legal status as that of their paper-based counterparts," said Mr Lau.

The HKSARG has also established a public key infrastructure (PKI) by setting up a public certification authority through the Hongkong Post in January this year.

The early implementation of the PKI in Hong Kong enhances the public's confidence in the security of conducting e-commerce.

Another major information infrastructure that facilitates the development of e-commerce in Hong Kong is the "Cyberport" project.

"The Cyberport provides a high quality living and working environment to create a strategic cluster of IT companies which are specialising in leading edge IT applications, in information services and in multi-media content creation," said Mr Lau.

"More than 10 leading companies have signed letters of intent to become anchor tenants. And more than 100 companies have registered interest to become tenants.

"The Cyperport project enhances the image of Hong Kong as an international Internet technology centre, and will speed up the pace of the Internet technology development in Hong Kong," said Mr Lau.

To lead by example in the adoption of e-commerce, the HKSARG will by the end of this year launch the Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) scheme, an information infrastructure that allows members of the public to obtain round-the-clock public services via the Internet and other electronic means.

"The ESD scheme not only enables the public to familiarise themselves with electronic transactions which will further enhance their confidence in e-commerce, the information infrastructure developed for ESD will also become available for use by the private sector for the conduct of e-commerce at a later stage," said Mr Lau.

Apart from facilitating the development of e-commerce in Hong Kong, the HKSARG is also dedicated to promoting the adoption of e-commerce to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the general public.

"We have been working closely together with the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and the Hong Kong Productivity Council to provide comprehensive and affordable e-commerce solutions to SMEs," said Mr Lau.

"We also organise seminars and exhibitions, produce publicity leaflets, CD-ROMs, Announcements of Public Interest and Internet web pages to enhance the awareness and knowledge of the community on e-commerce," he said.

Mr Lau assured that the HKSARG would continue to create an excellent environment and provide necessary information infrastructure to promote the development of e-commerce in Hong Kong, and would continue to formulate appropriate IT policies to achieve the vision of being a leading digital city.

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